Simple Steps
by theheathen42
Summary: [MacStella] oneshot set after Dancing with Fishes. Mac and Stella go dancing.


"Backball, change, backball, change, pirouette, attitude, shoulder roll," Stella listed off the dance steps as she effortlessly demonstrated what the dead girl had written down. Mac couldn't help but smile at the way her face lit up as her body went through the movements. If those were the easy steps, he wanted to see what the difficult ones looked like.

………

Stella peeked her head around Mac's door. "What are you doing here this late?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"Paperwork," they said together. Mac looked sheepish and Stella just nodded.

"I'm getting you out of here," she walked into his office and unceremoniously closed the folder he'd been working on. "This is not healthy, Mac. You need to get some fresh air!"

"I don't think I'll find any of that in New York," he protested mildly but allowed her to hand him his jacket as he stood up. He could never argue with her when she was like this, which was pretty much all of the time.

Stella attempted to give him a hard look, "I'm getting you out of this office right now, before you stay here all night again. This isn't your apartment, Mac. Despite all the rumours, you don't actually _live_ at the lab." Grabbing his hand, she started to drag him to the elevator.

"I don't? Are you sure? Because I've got a change of clothes in there and everything…" he smiled as she rolled her eyes and grinned back.

………

"So, are you glad you came out with me?" Stella asked as she sipped her drink and watched the couples whirl by in their dance.

"I'm undecided," he looked into his glass then back up at her. "How about you show me some more of those dance moves of yours and we'll see if they can't convince me?"

"Mac, did you just ask me to dance?" her eyes went wide and she lit up the room with her smile.

"We've got the Policeman's Ball coming up…" Mac blushed slightly and tried to cover it by taking a drink " I should probably practice before then, or I'll step on the mayor's wife's toes and get myself fired."

Stella indulged him in his excuse and stood up. "Alright, but what makes you think I won't make you pay for stepping on _my_ toes?"

"You'll make me pay, but you can't fire me," Mac took her hand and led her onto the floor. He spun her into his arms and caught her before moving into quite a good foxtrot.

She laughed in surprise, "Mac Taylor! You know how to dance!"

He grinned and shrugged, "Claire made me learn how. She said it was the only way I'd put my arms around her in public."

"She was a smart woman."

"She really was."

Mac pulled Stella closer to him as they both quieted in the memory of his dead wife. The music slowed and they closed their eyes as they moved across the dance floor.

He breathed in deeply, enjoying her scent, and tried to suppress the butterflies in his stomach. Claire _was_ smart. Smart enough to have told him long before she'd died that she expected him to find happiness, even if she were no longer around. At the time, it had been one of those conversations that a husband hates. "_If I die, will you marry again?_" But she'd been stubborn and had made them talk it out.

Mac cleared his throat, "She really liked you Stella, always did."

"I liked her, too, Mac." Stella buried her face in his shoulder and wished that there were some way she could reach him through his grief, some way she could make him see that his wife may have passed away but he could still live on.

"… and I don't think she'd mind…" he continued, swallowing nervously, "I don't think she'd mind what I'm going to do."

Stella lifted her head and looked at him in confusion. "What are you going to do?"

Taking one, final deep breath, Mac simply said, "this."

Leaning down, he moved slowly so that she could pull away if she wanted to. He looked into her huge, expressive eyes and saw confusion slowly give way to realization. He hesitated for a moment, long enough to see his own eager nervousness reflected in her face. Then he closed his eyes and she closed hers and their lips met as they moved through the swirling bodies on the dance floor.

There was no one else in the world, just the two of them wrapped up in each other's arms, dancing their way to happiness.


End file.
